Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents: the impact of mass migration on older people in rural Albania

King, Russell; Vullnetari, Julie

doi:10.1017/s0144686x06005125

Cited by 135 publications

(148 citation statements)

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“…In a second stage, following migrant regularisation and longer-term job security, wives and children also emigrated, with the result that social support (regular visits or hands-on care) of the older generations left behind in Albania was reduced. 'Orphan pensioners' thus became a widespread feature of post-socialist Albanian society (King and Vullnetari 2006).…”

Section: Negotiating Care and Emotions Across Borders In An Era Of Mamentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Washing men's feet’: gender, care and migration in Albania during and after communism

Vullnetari

King

2015

Gender, Place & Culture

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'Washing men's feet': gender, care and migration in Albania during and after communismThis article compares the interrelationships between gender, family structures and intra-family care arrangements during two markedly different periods of Albania's recent history. The first of these, the communist era, was dominated by the autocratic state-socialist regime of Enver Hoxha. In contrast, the post-communist period that followed was characterised by a kind of reactive free-for-all capitalism and high rates of both internal and international migration, the latter mostly to Greece and Italy.Families have been torn apart by this mass emigration, resulting in husbands separated from their wives and children, and older generations left behind by their migrant children. All this contrasts with family, residential and care arrangements during the communist period when not only were families generally living in close proximity, but also state welfare was available to support vulnerable and isolated individuals. Across these periods, however, the burden of care responsibilities fell almost wholly on women, despite the egalitarian ideology of the socialist era and the potentially modernising and empowering effects of post-socialist migration on the agency of women. The article provides a valuable lesson in historicising regimes of gender, family and care across dramatically contrasting social models.Keywords: Albania; socialism; post-socialist Eastern Europe; migration; gender; care Accepted Manuscript (AM) of 'Washing men's feet': Gender, care and migration in Albania during and after communism. Gender, Place and Culture 23(2): 198-215 [DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2015.1013447][accepted 06 October 2014; first published online . 2 IntroductionThis article takes a diachronic perspective on the evolution of migration, gender relations and intergenerational care within families across two highly contrasting periods of social organisation: state socialism and neoliberal capitalism. The setting for this historical comparison is Albania, which experienced the extreme of both social orders. For nearly 45 years the country was in the grip of the most severe, orthodox-Stalinist and isolationist of the East European communist regimes. During this era, emigration was banned and regarded as an act of treason. Internal mobility was tightly controlled. After the 'democratic turn' of 1990-92, a free-for-all type capitalism was unleashed with dizzying speed. The main characteristic of the 'new Albania' has been mass migration, both abroad, chiefly to Greece and Italy, and internally, focused on the capital Tirana. Across these two contrasting erasthe relatively immobile world of Albanian communism, and the hyper-mobility of the postcommunist period -we focus on three key aspects of how society was (dis)organised: family life, gender, and the administration of intergenerational care.In the next section, we briefly describe the projects from which our empirical data is drawn, as well as the field and analytical methods used. Following that, we ou...

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Section: Negotiating Care and Emotions Across Borders In An Era Of Mamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Remitting, a very important transnational practice of intra-family care, addresses the economic hardships of parents left behind who would otherwise live in poverty on their meagre old-age pensions and subsistence farming (King and Vullnetari 2006;Falkingham et al 2009). Yet remittances are not always possible, especially if only the migrant man is working.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Washing men's feet’: gender, care and migration in Albania during and after communism

Vullnetari

King

2015

Gender, Place & Culture

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“…However, this proposed policy could be implemented according to any geography as long the mobility benefits are available to everyone over 50. Modern migration often presumes the movement of the young while older people remain behind (NIDI 2001); a consequence of the forced separation of these generations has a number of consequences and opportunity costs for the migrant family and the countries of destination and origin (King & Vullnetari 2006). Young migrants often experience crises in destination countries and are unable to turn to their elders for support and help.…”

Section: An Apparently Irrational Policy Proposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovative Concepts for Alternative Migration Policies : Ten Innovative Approaches to the Challenges of Migration in the 21st Century

Jandl¹

2007

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Ten Innovative Approaches to the Challenges of Migration in the 21st Century michael jandl (ed.)A m s t e r d a m U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s RePoRts imiscoe Innovative Concepts for Alternative Migration Policies IMISCOE (International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion)IMISCOE is a European Commission-funded Network of Excellence of more than 350 scientists from various research institutes that specialise in migration and integration issues in Europe. These researchers, who come from all branches of the economic and social sciences, the humanities and law, implement an integrated, multidisciplinary and internationally comparative research programme that focuses on Europe's migration and integration challenges.Within the programme, existing research is integrated and new research lines are developed to address issues crucial to European-level policymaking and provide a theory-based design to implement new research.The publication programme of IMISCOE is based on five distinct publication profiles, designed to make its research and results available to scientists, policymakers and the public at large. High-quality manuscripts written by -or in cooperation with -IMISCOE members are published in these five series. An editorial committee coordinates the review process of the manuscripts. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. ContentsForeword 9Introduction and overview 11 Michael Jandl, ICMPD ForewordTowards the end of 2005, extensive media coverage of the tragic events in Ceuta and Melilla, where several hundred desperate but determined migrants had stormed the protective fences of these tiny Spanish exclaves to get into EU territory, reminded us once again that traditional mechanisms of migration management have run into severe trouble and that new, innovative concepts for the regulation of migration are called for. Yet, new ideas for regulating regular migration, dealing with irregular migration and providing international protection to those in need of it remain elusive and untested. While several innovative concepts have been suggested over the past few years -such as the 'People Flow' approach spearheaded by Theo Veenkamp, the 'Migration Tax' proposal by Jagdhish Baghwati or the 'Auctioning of work permits' suggested by Thomas Straubhaar -there is no serious discussion of these either at the policy level or among migration researchers.To address this yawning gap between the daily realities of migration events, shaping the policy agendas of governments around the worldand the analytical world of migration researchers concerned with scientific description and explanation rather than prescription and advice -I decided to launch a challenge to those esteemed colleagues willing to push...

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“…Such older people would normally expect their children and other close relatives to support them both materially and if they become frail or sick. When their children migrate to another country, especially one that is far away, they lose this emotional and practical support and become, in effect, 'orphaned elders' (King and Vullnetari 2006).…”

Section: International Student Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dynamics of International Migration and Settlement in Europe : A State of the Art

Penninx¹,

Berger²,

Kraal³

2006

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IMISCOE is a European Commission-funded Network of Excellence of more than 350 scientists from various research institutes that specialise in migration and integration issues in Europe. These researchers, who come from all branches of the economic and social sciences, the humanities and law, implement an integrated, multidisciplinary and internationally comparative research program that focuses on Europe's migration and integration challenges.Within the program, existing research is integrated and new research lines are developed that involve issues crucial to European-level policy making and provide a theory-based design to implement new research.The publication program of IMISCOE is based on five distinct publication profiles, designed to make its research and results available to scientists, policymakers and the public at large. High-quality manuscripts written by IMISCOE members, or in cooperation with IMISCOE

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Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents: the impact of mass migration on older people in rural Albania

Cited by 135 publications

References 25 publications

‘Washing men's feet’: gender, care and migration in Albania during and after communism

‘Washing men's feet’: gender, care and migration in Albania during and after communism

Innovative Concepts for Alternative Migration Policies : Ten Innovative Approaches to the Challenges of Migration in the 21st Century

The Dynamics of International Migration and Settlement in Europe : A State of the Art

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